The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes the discovery of quasicrystals, in which atoms are ordered over long distances but not in the periodically repeating arrangement of traditional crystals.
Image: Inductiveload via Wikimedia Commons

Experimentalists have mapped the quantum states (band structure) of cold atoms mimicking electrons in a crystal. The technique should allow researchers to study new aspects of electrons in crystals using the atoms as a model.
Image: J. Krauser/Univ. of Hamburg

Simulations explain why the first wave of a tsunami is sometimes less devastating than the subsequent waves. A resonance effect can boost the waves that come later.
Image: David Rydevik via Wikimedia Commons

Calculations suggest that a rapidly spinning oxygen nucleus can deform into a linear configuration of four small clusters in a row--the first clear evidence for such a "linear-chain" state in any nucleus.
Image: Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 112501 (2011)

A theoretical model of neurons associated with hearing may explain why certain note combinations are more pleasing than others. New research supports the theory by quantifying the effect.
Image: Radius Images/Punchstock

Analysis of newly retrieved navigational data for the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft suggests that an anomalous acceleration in their motion is steadily decreasing, pointing to asymmetric radiation of heat as the likely cause, rather than the more exotic explanations previously proposed
Image: NASA

A rapidly expanding and collapsing microbubble in a fluid exerts forces strong enough to roll submerged particles stuck to a solid surface, which may explain how ultrasonic cleaning of jewelry and silicon wafers in a liquid removes dirt.
Image: C.-D. Ohl/Nanyang Tech. Univ.